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Location: Lakeville, MN - 4th nicest place in the nation to raise a family

285 posts, read 992,730 times

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What a timely question!!!

I am a Twin Cities resident currently having a weekend fling in Chicago (with the wife of course ).

To answer your question: Minneapolis. Chicago smells like a poorly-maintained porta-john. My wife and I just took a stroll by the Navy Pier. I spent most of the time looking around trying to find the guy who must have taken a dump upwind from us. Traffic is HORRIFIC here. 10 blocks in a cab felt like 2 years in a parking lot. Traffic in the Cities is actually quite nice compared to other metropolitan areas.

The Cities actually smell like, well, nothing. Perhaps the smugness of the artsy-fartsy crowd wafts through the air once in a while, but that's it.

to be fair, please don't judge Chicag on Navy pier. while i agree that Minny is much cleaner, Navy Pier and Mag Mile are a tourist district where nobody lives. In fact, you will NEVER see a local in that area on a weekend for the reasons you just mentioned.

Minneapolis/St Paul (suburbs of) have excellent public schools... loads of parks...and many other families for your kids to find friendships.

Chicago has the downtown nightlife (MN is good but CHI is better)... different ethnic areas that add culture and interest (again MN is good, CHI better)... and the "art" scene is by far loads better in CHI. Not to mention flying out of CHI is usually cheaper and WAY more options than MN has (No West has a strangle hold).

Both places are colder than... well... are seriously cold. MN is colder... but CHI isn't exactly FLA in comparison.

I lived in both. I have chosen Minneapolis as my home for the future, so that is my choice. It is a better place to raise a family and is closer to what I enjoy (the northwoods). But here are reasons why you would choose either:

Minneapolis: Manageable size, fewer "rough parts of town" (but a few still exist), much more nature -- both in the city as well as within a couple hours, slightly better housing prices, real winters (I'll explain in a second), great art scene for the size of the city, cleaner

Chicago: World-class entertainment options, incredible restaurants and museums, older, so more authentic neighborhoods, great place to meet young singles, a real "city" feel with skyscrapers and a buzz

Let me sum it up this way: Chicago is a great place if you want to be entertained; Minneapolis is a great place if you want to enjoy life

And two final notes:
Weather - I like Minneapolis' winters better. Chicago winters have cold, bone-chilling wind, wet wind coming off the lake, and a frozen ground. Cold temps without the fun. Minneapolis gets snow, sunny winter days, winter activities, etc. You embrace it.
Arts - True, there are more arts in Chicago, but based on the size of the city, Minneapolis has way more to offer than a city its size, say Denver or Phoenix

My husband and I are also trying to pick between Minneapolis & Chicago (but we'd love to go back toward the NE). We want to live in a self-sustainable suburb (= we don't have to work in the city proper if we don't want to). We want to be near a city for art/culture/entertainment purposes, and maybe work there if the commute from an outlying town isn't too bad (under 30 minutes).
So, how are job opportunities in and around Minneapolis and Chicago?
I am a bookkeeper; my husband currently does local CDL driving and is working towards a Personal Trainer Certification.
We're in our mid 40s with no children. We're looking to rent for a year before buying.

go with minnesota for sure. everything in minneapolis is much more convinient. if you were to choose chicago, you might as well choose nyc. minneapolis is one extreme and new york is the other, chicago is the in between...but if thats what youre looking for, chicago is the place!

im going to tell the commute, community and affordability is much better in minneapolis. not to mention minneapolis is very easy on the eyes!

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